


Tipperary

by Hasty (UniformedServiceman)



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Camping, Gen, Rain, Thematic Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-18
Packaged: 2018-10-07 09:30:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10357365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UniformedServiceman/pseuds/Hasty
Summary: Maxine, Clancy and Percy go camping together at Lake Anzac over a long weekend. An attempt at a somewhat comedic story.The cast of Shorty Squad is the creation of Inkyfrog. Her works can be found here: http://inkytopia.tumblr.com/ [note: NSFW]. Thank you so very very much, Inky!





	

The baggage proved to be more than expected; camping in February demands an excess to keep the elements off of yourself. Maxine and Percy swung a poorly-bagged pup tent and a duffel bag of tinned food out the elevator, then pushed it by the main door, where Clancy was busy rolling clothes into bundles (he learned the trick from a film about submarines.) They now had six bags to carry between the three of them; Clancy, judging from the remaining clothes laying around him, didn’t think it’d all fit even then.

Maxine started shoving shirts into the spare space in the bag of food. “How long do we have before the bus leaves?”

Percy tried for his phone but he couldn’t get a hold on it. After a few seconds, he managed to press the phone against his leg with his paw, push it up and out of the pocket, then snap his other arm down to secure it. “About… an hour and a half.” His face started to melt, then froze again, dripping, candlewax. Clancy finished up rolling his own clothes and turned to Percy’s.

The lobby was nearly empty. Every shuffle of cloth and swipe of the zipper bounced across the linoleum and reflected back into the band of adventurers, an insistent reminder they needed to leave. They were all at the stage of any expedition where every member is wide awake and the excitement has dulled to impatience and through the change sharpened the senses so that every sound rings and every touch hurts. Percy threw himself from Maxine to Clancy and back again, like a lost dog, looking for help. Clancy saw him sweating, and had an idea.

\-------------------------------------------------------

Every one of them was a hunchback from their appointed freight. Percy’s body shape lended itself to taking the pup-tent and the food duffel, and he slunk down the avenue like a drunk to keep his balance. Clancy and Maxine had the food and camping gear between them, which was heavy enough to greatly slow their pace but did not shatter their frames with its burden.

Clancy’s plan had worked, but the cost was steep. They paraded down the street decked in every winter layer they’d brought, puffing out their bodies like they’d been inflated and coating them with the manufactured colors of early 90’s winter wear. The effect was a squadron of battered astronauts hiding from the sun. Their fingers itched under the gloves, but hoping to spare the others from feeling it themselves, nobody talked about it. Its rays pierced the wall of luggage and transformed Maxine’s silver slicker into a blazing copy, dazzling the unexpected drivers of passing cars. She was sweating so much she could hardly keep her eyes open, with her attempts to wick the sweat off with her paws rendered moot by thinsulate. Just five more blocks. She squinted at the signpost on the coming corner, and saw it was six.

\------------------------------------------------------------

They floated off the Greyhound. Their movement had adapted to the bounds imposed by their nested layers, and they walked toward their bags, left curbside, as if suspended in molasses. No one else left with them; most of the other mammals were headed to the more popular and much larger Fence National Forest another hour north.

They’d planned to camp before deciding the destination; Percy’d broached the subject to Maxine over the telephone a month prior.

“There’s a few close options – “

“Anzac Lake.” The answer came without hesitation and came out familiar like a family name.

“…It’d be our pleasure, but may I ask why you want to go there, specifically?”

“I had a book about it as a kid. Always wanted to go.”

The tent was Percy’s. It was an old steel-pole, army surplus canvas job in olive drab that the other two, judging from the name stenciled on its carrying bag, thought he’d stolen from his father.  Clancy had unwisely asked if Percy’s dad had been in the military, making the first hour of the bus ride painfully tense without any profitable truth. Maxine only realized once they’d started staking it in that the tent was not suited to her size in the slightest; she was relieved when her sleeping bag, fully rolled out, just fit lengthwise in the confines. 

The chill bled in with the moonlight, pulling low across the floor and forcing the group to their sleeping bags, then into their coats as they tried to keep in sight of each other and undetected by the creeping cold. Percy gave them a quick itinerary, dragging the lantern next to his sleeping bag to read through down the list, stopping occasionally to shove his paws back under the covers and warm them, load them out for the front line. The defense had failed by eight o’ clock, and Clancy alone had the presence of mind to kill the lamp before nodding off, laying his head against Percy’s shoulders.

\---------------------------------------

Clancy and Percy took the lead in the walk to the visitor’s center. I stared at the ground. The path was cut wide and straight and easy, freshly laid with bright brown bark every season so no one got lost. It looked like a mock-up of a hike for mammals who are easily confused, a cheat-sheet cheating me out of something real that’d been there before. I looked at the pair, then at my feet, back again, back again. My eyes moved, but my head kept behind, thinking over stuff at home, puzzling through decisions and licking wounds. Eventually that clutter fell out of my head, either resolved or stale. Eventually your interest in something just fades. The trail and the whole trip got real right then. A necessary evil. Life was ahead of me, beyond this trail, shivering and breaking apart against the cold, and I tried to clear the holes I’d stamped in the path to run it myself again. I thought about the standouts, the funny things that become markers in your head – twists in the trees overhead, sudden clearings, stuff like that, sent them the ghosts of my wasted time. Eventually I just started staring at the guys in front of me. They were interesting enough. They played like a subtle Laurel and Hardy routine; the preppy sweaters made the image even better. Percy would call for Clancy’s attention and point to something, or ask him about something kinda related to the last thing he’d pointed out. Clancy would look., then talk, always holding back a little, and Percy would either press in or bring up another point, to the same end. They kept up this give and take the whole walk. Potluck conversation. It was nice to see Percy so calm. I saw a rock with a funny notch in its side, then we reached the place.

It’d had taken us over an hour to get there. The path flattened out to a small, barren courtyard, a big circle plowed over with the same thick coat of bark, flanked on both sides by long strips of cleared field, which shone dull under the clouds. I hadn’t even noticed the sky was overcast until I saw the grass like that. The visitor center was a glorified cabin, log siding and all, colored a very dull sort of brown either because of its age or because of the rain (it was hard to tell). In the middle of the bark circle leaned a big old two-tiered fountain, the stone cracked, overflowing with rainwater that beaded off the edge in a broken stream. The layout didn’t make much sense.

Inside was the usual stand of trail guides and pamphlets, a map of the place along the right-hoof wall, a 3D model of the lake with little animals for scale, and an oversized gift shop that was threatening to take over the front desk. The ranger, a possum, was in back; he came out clutching a #1 DAD mug to greet us.

“Hello!”

“Hey”, we all managed to say at different times.

“Do you have any questions?”

Clancy spoke first. “Do you have rowboats to rent?”

“I’m afraid boating is no longer allowed on Lake Anzac after a couple of incidents.” His tail swung wildly.

The book _fucking lied._

“Can you swim, at least?” I oughta be able. I hadn’t brought a swimsuit, even, I just felt I had to put a claim on my rights as a citizen.

“Not this time of year, you’d get pneumonia. If you came back in the summer…”

He kept talking for another half-minute, but I didn’t hear a word. The _balls_ of that guy. I’ll catch my death if I damn well feel like it.

Percy asked him a couple more questions while Clancy and I compared trails in the brochures. He wanted something intense, I wanted something easy, and we bargained until Percy’d gotten what he wanted from the ranger and came over to us with a middle way.

We walked out. As I shut the door, Clancy signaled for us to wait. “I think it’s gonna rain.”

Percy hesitated a few seconds, I think to show he was going to wait anyway, then turned to him. “The forecast said only clouds before four, Clancy. Why do you think it’s going to rain?”

Clancy looked nervous. “I just feel it, sometimes.”

He looked like he’d been caught out on something, but I didn’t know if he was really bullshitting or if he just didn’t have the words to say what his guts were telling him. I stared at the gutter running along the edge of the roof, followed it to its endpoint at the corner where its leading edge sagged down. The forest was thin on that side of the cabin and the field was torn up from some heavyweight’s stomping around. I felt stripped bare just looking at it, and turned back to Clancy.

He looked to the sky like a prophet might. He’d unzipped his jacket and taken his paws out of the pockets, letting them hang limp at the sides. His eyes didn’t search the clouds; they beamed straight up at the same spot. I started to say something, but I didn’t have any words to put to the thought, and the breath came out a sigh. The silence crushed it like a freight train.

It’d only been a few minutes but Percy’s face was boiling over in frustration. He didn’t like Clancy putting on shows. and he turned to Clancy as he jabbed out at the horizon with his paw.

His voice wavered as he spoke. “Clancy, dear, can we go?”

The first syllable of his name broke Clancy’s stance, and the koala turned to the ground as he redid his jacket.

“Sorry.” It seemed legit, but I can’t say I’m sure about anything with him. Percy, judging from his deepening frown, didn’t buy it a lick.

The path from there to actual lake was only a quarter-mile long, pea gravel tilted up a hill just steep enough to keep you from seeing where you were going. We all walked side by side, quickly I thought, and I ended up between the two. It was for the best they kept quite and cooled down. Last thing we needed was a couple’s quarrel drawing itself out over the next three days.

The path took a hard right turn and ended in a wooden staircase.

“I guess they don’t let you walk around the edge anymore, either. Christ.” I realized I was being a downer a little too late.

Percy looked up at me while we clambered up the stairs. “The guide said there’s a few long trails you can take to other parts of the lake. They think it’s stable enough there that you still can.”

Clancy cut in. “Sweet!” He was beaming. Percy and I were both shocked.

A few steps more and we’d reached the viewpoint, a platform couple dozen feet back from the cliffs with a multi-height safety railing and a knife-scratched placard. After my eyes adjusted to the yellow tint of the aged plastic, it gave up some helpful facts. Anzac Lake is the southern terminus of the Sumac river canyon, but was wider and deeper than it by an order of magnitude, as the limestone canyon eroded much more slowly than the massive chalk deposit which made up the lake. The result was sheer white cliffs over a hundred feet tall which cut a jagged rim as they dropped precipitously to the grey mirror below. Even in the dim light of the overcast day, the white cliffs shone bright. Nobody spoke; we all took the same position, leaning over the railing. I stared at the water and followed movement of the clouds. It was supposed to be easy, since there was almost no wind over the surface, but the surface of the water was churning very slightly, little dots smudging the reflection…

The realization and the first drop hit me at the same time. In under a minute it’d accelerated to a pour. Percy kept his head in place and stared at the lake with the unusual specter of anger in his eyes. Clancy turned to Percy, then thought better of it and looked up at me with a wide-eyed, concerned apology.

I stared him down and kept in the impulse to throw the fucker over the cliff as a sacrifice.

\-----------------

“Oh Christ, it’s gonna rain again.”

It was already falling; Clancy’d been too occupied with Percy’s left paw to notice. At least they’d worn their jackets this time. The water drizzled in front of them and cut into the saturated dirt, tiny bullets hitting targets spot on and pushing through to the sand. The path spun around a ridgeline, carving itself to the quick of the incline, almost suspended above the gully that fell off to their left. The clotted earth was perforated under fire and tore as they stepped into it, giving way to the water that gathered beneath.

Percy’s tooth slid out of his lips like a flick knife. His feet and ankles were soaked. He did not like this state of affairs.

“What a hike. Geez. This weather is awful.”

Clancy’s head turned robotically to Percy’s. He pulled up a bright smile, thinking it’d help the words go over.

“Honestly, Percy, I enjoy it. It’s invigorating.”

Percy’s face slid from irritation to contempt. Clancy pretended not to notice, and looked past his face to the forest beside them before returning his attention to the slurry. The shower petered out with the exchange, leaving the clouds aching and the trail dripping, running over the edge. They fit like gun and silencer most times, but in the flood they jammed. It was some time, but little distance, before Clancy spoke again.

“I mean, it’s frustrating, but it’s a challenge. It makes you take it on its own terms. Not to mention it’s beautiful.”

“I don’t like it. It’s nasty. If I wanna push myself, I can at the gym. There, I know exactly what I’m getting into. There’s nothing but me and the weight or the distance. I can walk away if things go wrong. Here,” he threw his arms out, “it’s cold, it’s wet, it’s hard to see, the ground feels like it’s going to give way, every step away from the tent is one more step I have to take later, and at our pace I have no idea how long we have left to go. Everything’s out of my hands. I don’t know what kind of hell waits for me.”

“But that’s exactly what I like, see? It changes things around, makes both feel and see the trail two ways.” Clancy had realized he’d misspoken earlier; he didn’t think the rain was beautiful, he liked how it coated everything in gloss, made the scenery brighter and darker at the same time.

“I mean, it’s not a dealbreaker or anything,” Percy leaned into the argument’s boomerang, “but-“

Maxine was done with this conversation.

“The trail should give variety enough. The rain only makes it a miserable kind of different.”

Things were eerily quiet without the rain. Maxine felt guilty about having brought the debate to a halt; Percy and Clancy seemed like they were enjoying it. She chanced a change of topic.

“How far down do you think that…” she fumbled for the word, “…pit goes?”

“I wouldn’t really call that ditch a pit-”

“You know what I mean, Clancy.”

“That’s neither here nor there.”

“Answer the question!”

He peered over the edge and scrunched his nose. “Between fifty or sixty feet.”

“That far?”

“These are aspens; they generally get about fifty feet tall, and the tops of the ones at the bottom are below eye level.”

Percy tapped his lover’s shoulder and shook out his own right leg. “How deep is the water we’re standing in, smartass?”

Clancy frowned and bent his leg up, in mock inspection. “Tall as your dick.”

Percy’s face settled to mock irritation. “What are you getting at?”

“Well, I can’t feel either of them.”

Percy laughed and Maxine groaned. “You fixing to take a swim test, Clancy?”

“Why don’t we wait until we reach the deep end? I like to dive in.”

Percy narrowed his eyes and smiled. “I’ll remember that.”

The rain started again. Clancy’s eyes flashed malice.

“Look at that. I say what I want, and it comes to me.”

Maxine pulled on the leash. “Nature invented delivery service.”

“Is it getting foggy, or am I crazy?”

Clancy and Maxine looked over the gully where Percy was pointing. The trees close by looked the same. But as they faded back they were overtaken, made first silhouettes then ghosts, little blips of shade amongst the grey, the branches sheered from the trunk, gone.

“Yeah, and it’s pretty thick.”

Clancy saw Percy quivering, and he gave him a hug before moving back to give him space. “It’s fine. We just have to remember to take a left when we reach the fork coming back down.”

Percy knew how he looked; the bite of the rain wasn’t helping, compelling his limbs to twitch and darkening his fur, making his eyes stand out, blue rings in broken lightbulbs. To seem in control he checked the map. It bled ink under the torrent, pouring the environment that it represented and recorded back into itself, further fading to white with every additional second Percy traced their route with his paw.

“The map says it’s only a half mile after the bend ahead,” and they kept on.

\------------------------------

It was the last night. Sunny day this time, cold but clear, and a full day made the lovers feel energized, not exhausted, like the sun had merely prepared them for the chance brought by night. They went outside to be alone, breathe together under the stars. The spare crescent that showed them in had been torn away. They left the tent, looked up, and shrank. The leaves of the trees were so thick that they blocked the dots entirely. All above was black. The sky seemed a dense and close shroud of black, a blanket thrown over the trees, matted almost, drooping down along the branches that held it up, closing up the world, and Percy asked Clancy if they could go back inside.

\--------------------------------

I wake up cold, and I’m alert so quickly I know I won’t get back to sleep. Clancy’s snoring, with his back to me. The wheeze he makes when he takes his breath tells me it’s a light rest, and he’ll wake up soon. I feel suddenly lonely, but I don’t want to wake him up. I close my eyes to calm down but it’s hard for me to put myself somewhere else, think of something different than what is touching me. This happens sometimes, when the world gets too much, but that’s not the problem. Right now it seems like the world’s too little. I don’t like this feeling. I open my eyes and sit up in the tent. Everything in the tent seems far away, or like it’s pointed away from me. I get the feeling something I’m expecting to see isn’t there, though I can’t say I’m looking for anything. The whole scene’s strange. I think I’m coming down with something.

I prop myself on an arm and look over Clancy, on a suspicion. It’s right. Maxine’s gone.

Clancy and the sleeping bag seem to be conspiring to keep me in, but I slide out the top. Full-length pajamas come in handy on mornings like these; you can get up and go take care of business, no need to fret on dress. I threw on last night’s socks and laced up before ducking through the fly.

The sky was scattered clouds and sunbreaks, each fighting for the field. I couldn’t tell what time it was; nine o’ clock? Earlier? The sun didn’t have the orange of early morning, but it wasn’t bright, either. The scene seemed like afternoon more than anything.

Maxine hadn’t started a fire yet; I checked the other side of the campsite and found her, sitting on a rock and staring into the woods.

“Good morning.”

She jerked her body halfway, startled, then panned her head the rest to meet my look. “Hi, Percy.”

She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and without it her eyes sank in her blonde fur, only the nose now jutting out from a slab of butterscotch. She generally looked tired, a little reserved; now she looked blank. It was strange.

“What are you doing out here? Just thinking?”

“Yeah.”

I didn’t like that answer. I noticed her nose twitch as her face, first glancing upward, stalled and tilted to the ground. I dragged my leg in a little circle. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She fiddled with her hands. I moved in and squatted near her perch; the ground was a lot more wet than I’d figured, but I tried to keep my discomfort from bleeding into this conversation.

“Would it put your mind to rest if we talked about it?”  She’d noticed.

“Well, yeah, but –“

“Then we can talk about it.” She took a breath. “I’m thinking about why I get lonely.” We’d talked her loneliness before, but not the “why”. There had been (or so I thought) the unspoken understanding it was because she didn’t have anybody.

“What makes you think about that?”

“It’s all of this.” She raised her hand like she was gonna wave at the trees, but her intent was clear, so she let it fall. “There’s a big forest here, climbing over hills, giving to grassland and valleys. Everything seems like it flows together, then in the middle of it there’s a massive hole, filled with rainwater. I feel like that, some sort of weird accident, and that’s why I feel lonely, I guess. I don’t feel like I fit in anywhere.” It was an adolescent complaint, but if she felt that way, I guess it didn’t matter. She had a concerned look on her face, like she was surprised by her own words.

I closed the gap and hugged her.

“Well, I can just get my arms around you, so I think you’re a perfect fit there.”

 She smiled, but didn’t really return it, just put her arms around me.

“Thank you, Percy.” She sighed. “Do we have any donuts left?”

“No, but there’s a muffin.”

“Alright. I’ll be with you in a minute – “

“NO,” I gave a mock sway of my hips and grabbed her left hand. “You’re coming with me this instant, young lady.”

She gave something between a groan and a giggle and put her right hand behind her, in the small of her back. “Alright, Officer Percy, let’s go.”

\---------------------------------------------------------

I heard Percy walking up to me. Shit. I whipped my hand out of my skirt and tried to think up a story.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for /ztg/’s “Camping” Thematic Thursday event on March 16th and 17th, 2017.
> 
> I’m sorry if I’ve been acting weird lately. I’ve been on a turn.


End file.
